A man convicted of trying to rape an 83-year-old woman was sentenced to eight lashes with a cat-o'-nine-tails, a punishment used by the British navy in the 18th century and reinstated in the Bahamas 15 years ago.
Altulus Newbold, 34, was sentenced last Friday to 16 years in prison after being found guilty of burglary, attempted rape and causing harm. Justice Jon Isaacs also ordered that he receive four lashes of the whip at the start of his sentence and four upon his release, but suspended the punishment for three weeks pending a possible appeal.The cat, a whip made of knotted cords, leaves flesh wounds and is used on the offender's back. Its use was reinstated in the former British colony in 1991 in the face of rising crime.
The woman, who was attacked in her home in July 2004, told the court she grabbed Newbold's genitals and "mashed" them. He bit her to make her let go and then fled the scene.
A spokesman for the attorney general's office said the cat was last used in 2000 on a child rapist. That was the first time it had been used since 1994.
Former assistant police commissioner Paul Thompson said the cat was considered an effective punishment.
"A long-serving prison governor told me that prisoners who received the cat never returned to prison," Thompson said. "He considered it the ultimate deterrent."
